Extension
It Starts With Us
Outdoor Recreation
Healthy Communities
Hull, Broderick, Stewart
Making Healthy Lifestyle Choices (general)
Trail Design
Outdoor recreation is key in helping address some of today’s pressing health care issues. Creating walkable and bike-able areas and making improvements
to the built environment can encourage active living and better overall health for the community at large.
It's been shown that parks, trails and other recreational amenities create places where people want to live, work and play. The improvement and/or expansion of current outdoor recreation areas can have a positive impact on a community's economic development.
- Expansion of existing outdoor recreation areas (ORA's)
- Creation of new ORA's
- Establishment of funding source expressly for outdoor recreation
- "Friends of Gallatin ORA's" group formed to help maintain outdoor areas
- Greater number of citizens utilizing current ORA's
- Establishment of a county organization to help oversee and give guidance to county leadership in matters pertaining to ORA's
- Obtain funding for equipment necessary for ORA trail creation and maintenance
- Organized outdoor recreation events throughout the calendar year
- Marketing plan for outdoor recreation opportunities and events in the county
- More county residents will become acquainted with county ORA's
- 2 organized outdoor recreation events at county ORA's
Initial Outcome:
Indicator: Creation of ORA Marketing Plan
Method: YES or NO
Timeline: 3 - 6 months
Intermediate Outcome:
Indicator: Greater number of citizens utilizing county ORA's
Method: Survey instruments, digital counters at ORA entrances
Timeline: 12 months
Long-term Outcome:
Indicator: Increase number of walking trails at county ORA's
Method: tabulation
Timeline: 18 - 24 months
Audience: Gallatin County Residents
Project or Activity: ORA Field Day at newest county park
Content or Curriculum: Informal gathering designed to highlight the new park's many opportunities for outdoor recreation, i.e., hiking, horseback riding, fishing, etc.
Inputs: Locally developed park maps and brochures, tractors and wagons
Date: Fall 2017
Audience: Gallatin County Residents
Project or Activity: Wildflower Walks
Content or Curriculum: Agent, specialist, or leader led program designed to show the many species of wildflowers present at county ORA's
Inputs: Wildflower manuals, event promotion
Date: Spring 2018
Audience: Gallatin County Residents
Project or Activity: "Hiking Hartig" series
Content or Curriculum: Agent led physical fitness program wherein participants will meet weekly for a month and hike different parts of Hartig Nature Preserve
Inputs: Program promotion
Date: Summer 2018
Audience: Gallatin County Residents
Project or Activity: Warsaw Walkability Assessment/Create Walking Path
Content or Curriculum: UK Landscape Architecture/CEDIK
Inputs: UK Students, Staff, Volunteers, Livewell Group
Date: Summer 2017
Audience: Gallatin County Residents
Project or Activity: Warsaw City Riverfront Park Walking Path Creation
Content: UK Landscape Architecture/CEDIK Report, Livewell Group
Inputs: Community members, City of Warsaw, Three Rivers Health District and other organizations
Date: Summer 2017
Author: David Hull
Major Program: Woodland Education
Gallatin County's Hartig Park and Nature Preserve is 530 acres in size and contains 20 hiking and horseback trails along with campsites and picnic areas. But comments on the park's social media page have informed us that not everyone likes to hike or ride horses; many would rather paddle canoes or kayaks.Hartig Park borders the Ohio River and several creeks including Big Bone, South Fork, and Mud Lick. This proximity makes the park very attractive to would-be paddlers. But until very rec
Author: David Hull
Major Program: Woodland Education
Months of near isolation due to the COVID-19 outbreak has many people going a bit stir-crazy. Actual depression has even been observed and documented. These conditions have led many people to look for new things to do in settings that provide social distancing but still allows them to do things in small groups.This explains why the number of visitors to Hartig Park and Nature Preserve have skyrocketed over the past several months. The number of new visitors to the park has jumped 300 percent, an
